• Project state

  Completed

• Type of project

  Competitive project

• Begin date

  01 April 2019

• End date

  31 March 2023

Nature builds materials that can perform complex functions, convert energy and produce work by consuming chemical fuels. Typically, these are supramolecular polymers made of units that self-assemble and disassemble in a controlled, dynamic way as activated by the selective interaction with molecular actuators (or molecular fuels). Gaining the ability to rationally design artificial systems with similar properties would be a breakthrough in many fields, but the molecular principles that control them are typically very difficult to discern. The main aim of this collaborative bilateral Indo-Swiss project is to explore new ways to obtain living behaviors in supramolecular materials through rational molecular design and fine regulation of their dynamics through molecular fuels. To this end, multiscale models and advanced computer simulations conducted by the SUPSI unit - Prof. Giovanni M. Pavan's Computational Materials Science (CMS) lab - will be combined with state-of-the-art experimental approaches conducted by the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) unit - Prof. Subi George's lab (India). The knowledge developed by this project will pave new ways toward the design of new types of dynamic materials with biomimetic behaviors.